RT journal article
T1 Negative symptoms and sex differences in first episode schizophrenia: What's their role in the functional outcome? A longitudinal study
A1 Amoretti, Silvia
A1 Mezquida, Gisela
A1 Verdolini, Norma
A1 Bioque, Miquel
A1 Sánchez-Torres, Ana M.
A1 Berrocoso Domínguez, Esther María
A2 Neurociencias
K1 First-episode of psychosis
K1 Schizophrenia
K1 Negative symptoms
K1 Sex
K1 Functional outcome
AB IntroductionNegative symptoms (NS) include asociality, avolition, anhedonia, alogia, and blunted affect and are linked to poor prognosis. It has been suggested that they reflect two different factors: diminished expression (EXP) (blunted affect and alogia) and amotivation/pleasure (MAP) (anhedonia, avolition, asociality). The aim of this article was to examine potential sex differences among first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients and analyze sex-related predictors of two NS symptoms factors (EXP and MAP) and functional outcome.Material and methodsTwo hundred and twenty-three FES (71 females and 152 males) were included and evaluated at baseline, six-months and one-year. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine the effects of time and sex on NS and a multiple linear regression backward elimination was performed to predict NS factors (MAP-EXP) and functioning.ResultsFemales showed fewer NS (p = 0.031; Cohen's d = −0.312), especially those related to EXP (p = 0.024; Cohen's d = −0.326) rather than MAP (p = 0.086), than males. In both male and female group, worse premorbid adjustment and higher depressive symptoms made a significant contribution to the presence of higher deficits in EXP at one-year follow-up, while positive and depressive symptoms predicted alterations in MAP. Finally, in females, lower deficits in MAP and better premorbid adjustment predicted better functioning at one-year follow-up (R2 = 0.494; p < 0.001), while only higher deficits in MAP predicted worse functioning in males (R2 = 0.088; p = 0.012).ConclusionsSlightly sex differences have been found in this study. Our results lead us to consider that early interventions of NS, especially those focusing on motivation and pleasure symptoms, could improve functional outcomes.
PB Elsevier
SN 2950-2853
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/33227
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/33227
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 10-may-2026